THE Iraq War “tarnished the reputation” of Britain’s security services but the public should still be proud of them, claims the former head of GCHQ as the Chilcot Enquiry fall-out continues.

Sir David Omand admitted there was “not good practice” in the way Britain went about obtaining the evidence it then presented to as the indisputable evidence for going to war against Saddam Hussein.

Speaking on Newsnight, he said: “The British intelligence brand was tarnished but I think what the public should remember is in the last 18 months, seven attempts to attack the UK by terrorists were stopped by the intelligence agency – that’s a successful record.”

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David Omand, former head of GCHQ, said the public should stand by the intelligence services

Sir David was quizzed about a “rogue agent” mentioned in the Chilcot report, which fed lies to British intelligence services about the weapons capabilities and motives of the Saddam regime.

The source even plucked false intelligence reports out of film plots, according to evidence given to Chilcot.

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The former head of GCHQ admits the Iraq War has tarnished the reputation of British intelligence

Sir David admitted that placing so much faith in a fallible source was “not good practice”.

The 69-year-old defended the fact the intelligence committee deemed the Iraq War acceptable in 2003 because the information they had at the time, despite later being proved incorrect, did suggest Saddam posed an immediate threat to Britain.

He said: “It went wrong at the level of intelligence collection underassessment.

“Given the intelligence in front of the committee the conclusion we reached that Saddam had retained materials and was anxious to use them was a reasonable judgement.”

Chilcot inquiry: Britain's invasion of Iraq in 2003

Wed, July 6, 2016

Today the long-awaited Chilcot Report on the UK’s role in the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq will be published, take a look back at the war in Iraq